Under certain circumstances, data is not preserved in file replication.
A File on an NTFS drive, with alternate NTFS Streams is not replicated in its entirety. The Alternate streams are lost when replicating.
Steps to demonstrate:
On MachineA, go to a command prompt.
"cd C:\Meshed" (Where Meshed is a Live Folder, and C: is an NTFS volume.)
"echo This file exists. > C:\Meshed\mesh.txt"
"echo This stream exists. > C:\Meshed\mesh.txt:MeshStream"
*Verification*
"type C:\Meshed\mesh.txt" -> returns [This file exists.]
"more < C:\Meshed\mesh.txt:MeshStream" -> returns [This stream exists.]
Allow sufficient time for the file to replicate to MachineB, and the volume is an NTFS volume as well..
Go to a command prompt.
"type C:\Meshed\mesh.txt" -> returns [This file exists.]
"more < C:\Meshed\mesh.txt:MeshStream" -> errors [File not Found.]
Proposed solution that you guys should refine:
Checking that the file is on an NTFS volume, and whether alternate data streams exists. If so, encapsulate each stream into its own enclosure in the feed.
Obvious obsticle to overcome: Stream enumeration is usually done with either BackupRead() and BackupWrite() (a win32 api), FindFirstStreamW/FindNextStreamW (win32api available from WinS2K3, Vista, or Srv2K8), or through Native APIs (NTQueryFileInformation). Probably will be a bear to call since Mesh is written in .Net which doesn't really support streams.
Second issue: If Mesh regenerates feeds entirely on a detected update, there will be problems. If only attributes that get updated are modified, then you may be able to preserve the data across unsupported devices.
Example: Summary information can be added to any file, even the ones not based on XML or OLE Structured Storge (old Word Docs). If Summary Information is added to a Text File on your PC (which is NTFS) and then this File is eventually synced with your SmartPhone (which will be either RAW or FAT), when replicating back all the Summary Info is lost. If only the main enclosure is updated, then the Summary Info can be preserved. ... (I don't believe Cloud Storage is an NTFS volume either from Channel9 videos I saw...)
p.s. * "
Streams" is a handy utility for enumerating alternate data streams.
*
CodeProject's, community contributed .Net wrapper class may be helpful as a starting point
*
A MSDN Sample includes a property page shell-extension (a new tab when you check the properties of a file) that lists alternate streams on a file.
With all the Stink about Rootkits in the past few years, I'm surprised streams don't get more attention.
